10/20/23 Kids Art 8 Autumn Landscapes from CMA's Collection of Children's Art Click to expand media gallery. Alina Altufeva Untitled Age 10 School No. 59 Yaroslav, Russia Leslie Hewitt Untitled Age 12 United Nations International School New York, NY D. Barfolomeev Untitled Age 14 School No. 59 Yaroslav, Russia Katy Blunova Untitled Age 14 School No. 59 Yaroslav, Russia Anna Altufeva Untitled Age 14 School No. 59 Yaroslav, Russia Zoriga Palasti Autumn on the Field Age 11 Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School Novi Sad, Yugoslavia Ljupka Martinovic The Autumnal Day Age 12 Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School Novi Sad, Yugoslavia Martina Ljupka The Woods Age 12 Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School Novi Sad, Yugoslavia K. Molycova Untitled Age 11 School No. 59 Yaroslav, Russia NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

1/18/24 Artists in Schools Viewing Ruth Asawa at the Whitney Museum CMA Resident Artist Maria D. Rapicavoli visited the Whitney Museum with her after school students from Hudson Guild. Click to expand media gallery. We cannot adequately express our gratitude to the Whitney Museum of American Art and Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. for proving Maria D. Rapicavoli ’s students from Hudson Guild with a behind-the-scenes tour of the monumental Ruth Asawa Through Line show. A stalwart of the Chelsea community for nearly 100 years, Hudson Guild provides essential housing, education, and social services for the youngest members of its community. Located just four blocks from the Whitney Museum, Hudson Guild's students rarely get a chance to engage in the art world located on their doorstep – and we're here to change that. During their visit to the exhibition, students engaged Maria with thoughtful questions and even had the chance to create their own drawings in response to Asawa's works. In the words of CMA Residency Producer Tommy Coleman: "This visit reaffirmed my awareness of just how impressive we are as a team in what we provide students." Hat's off to all of our partners who help us make the art world more accessible to its youngest participants! Maria's work at Hudson Guild is supported by the Emergency Arts Education Fund , which provides free arts education to NYC school communities whose art programs have been decimated by recent budget cuts. Children’s Museum of the Arts’ three Residents Artists are currently implementing ambitious arts curriculum at each of our partner sites throughout New York City: Hudson Guild in Chelsea, Sid Miller Academy in Crown Heights, and Children’s Workshop School in the East Village. Come spring, our residents will showcase their students' work through exhibitions and installations across the city. Learn how you can support the work of our residents here . NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

2/8/24 Artists in Schools Animal Clouds Sculptures Part III: Adding the Fluff Dispatches from CMA Resident Artist Noormah Jamal's fifth grade class at Children's Workshop School. Click to expand media gallery. Now for the fun (and fluffy) part – adding pillow stuffing to our animal cloud sculptures! First, students glued cotton fluff onto their aluminum and plaster forms. The next day, they trimmed and cut the fluff into shapes and hung their sculptures by the window – like clouds! Gluing the fluff to our forms proved to be more challenging than expected. It was important to remember to pull the fluff apart first before adhering with glue. However, students loved getting inspiration from unconventional sources, like videos of dogs at the groomers! A few students finished early and created small characters out of foam sheets. After stapling the sides, they stuffed their characters with fluff to create their very own mixed materials toys. It was incredible to see the students work together to come up with a brand new art project and execute it on their own. Noormah’s work at Children’s Workshop School is supported by the Emergency Arts Education Fund , which provides free arts education to NYC school communities whose art programs have been decimated by recent budget cuts. Children’s Museum of the Arts’ three Residents Artists are currently implementing ambitious arts curriculum at each of our partner sites throughout New York City: Hudson Guild in Chelsea, Sid Miller Academy in Crown Heights, and Children’s Workshop School in the East Village. Come spring, our residents will showcase their students' work through exhibitions and installations across the city. Learn how you can support the work of our residents here . NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

1/31/24 Artists in Schools Noormah's Reflections: January CMA Resident Artist Noormah Jamal on her January projects at Children's Workshop School. Click to expand media gallery. We continued with our three-dimensional design projects this month. We took inspiration from Nick Cave 's soundsuits and made our own masks; created stick figure sculptures; sculpted 3D maps focusing on symbolism and landmarks; and started a cloud animal assignment taking a cue from Mike Kelley . With the 3D assignments specially, I had to pace the classes. I have limited time with them, and rushing 3D works (mostly, it's waiting for the paint to dry!) causes more delays and leads to frustration. Students loved these projects, mainly because they feel like they are making their own toys to play with. They ask questions non-stop — not just about the project or artists, but also about skill development. Students call me over to show off their progress or share how they found another way and it works just as well. Many students are going home and having conversations with family members about our class. They now come to class with own tips and tricks to share. I even have a student who has been re-working the assignments at home and coming up with spectacular little sculptures! Noormah’s work at Children’s Workshop School is supported by the Emergency Arts Education Fund , which provides free arts education to NYC school communities whose art programs have been decimated by recent budget cuts. Children’s Museum of the Arts’ three Residents Artists are currently implementing ambitious arts curriculum at each of our partner sites throughout New York City: Hudson Guild in Chelsea, Sid Miller Academy in Crown Heights, and Children’s Workshop School in the East Village. Come spring, our residents will showcase their students' work through exhibitions and installations across the city. Learn how you can support the work of our residents here . NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

10/31/23 Reflections We Throw the Best Halloween Parties in NYC Click to expand media gallery. Thousands of ghouls and goblins descended on Pier 57 on Sunday, October 29, sending a resounding message that Halloween belongs to those who believe in the power of creativity – regardless of age. Even better, our utterly ambitous monster puppet Hattie roars to life tonight as the centerpiece of Children's Museum of the Arts’ float in the Village Halloween Parade ! Constructed by the expert puppeteers of Monkey Boys Productions and lovingly decorated by child artists at our Halloween Pier Party, Hattie [short for Manhattan] embodies the utterly ambitious public art projects that make Children’s Museum of the Arts special. Revisit our favorite memories of the weekend below: We took over all three classrooms at Pier 57 for a day of spooktacular artmaking inspired by contemporary artists like Leonora Carrington. We marveled at amazing handmade costumes, like Pizza Rat. It was hard to distinguish the kids from the art, like these three sisters dressed as Claude Monet’s home in Giverny, France and his inspirational water lilies. Monkey Boys Productions built an enormous monster puppet named Hattie [short for Manhattan] that will be a focal point of CMA's float in the Village Halloween Parade. Kids created their own mini monsters to add to Hattie … …. which means the float will showcase kids’ artwork side-by-side with the work of professional artists! We also created our own trick or treat bags using Baggu totes …. …. and built a shadow puppet mural in the style of silhouette artist Kara Walker. Baby DJ School turned the lobby into a kid-powered dance floor …. … and ended the day with a triumphant Costume Catwalk where kids showed off the costumes and accessories they created that day. Donate now & support more free events like this one NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

12/19/23 Artists in Schools Warm and Cool Colors Dispatches from CMA Resident Artist Niousha Kiarashi's elementary school class at Sid Miller Academy. Click to expand media gallery. In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, CMA Resident Artist Niousha Kiarashi introduced her students at Sid Miller Academy to warm and cool colors. As a District 75 school serving students with disabilities, Niosha’s lessons are uniquely crafted for multisensory and tactile artmaking experiences. Students especially loved painting their hands to create handprints, taking turns tickling the palm of each other’s hand with the paintbrush. Niousha reflected, “One student has a powerful sensory understanding of his surroundings. He grabbed my hand and twisted it around his neck so I could help him hold the pencil better to draw inside the line. It was a beautiful moment that I won’t forget.” Niousha’s work at Sid Miller Academy is supported by the Emergency Arts Education Fund , which provides free arts education to NYC school communities whose art programs have been decimated by recent budget cuts. Children’s Museum of the Arts’ three Residents Artists are currently implementing ambitious arts curriculum at each of our partner sites throughout New York City: Hudson Guild in Chelsea, Sid Miller Academy in Crown Heights, and Children’s Workshop School in the East Village. Come spring, our residents will showcase their students' work through exhibitions and installations across the city. Learn how you can support the work of our residents here . NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

1/16/24 Artists in Schools Character Masks and Popsicle Stick Figures Dispatches from CMA Resident Artist Noormah Jamal's fifth grade class at Children's Workshop School. Click to expand media gallery. Three dimensional projects continued this week with masks inspired by Nick Cave and popsicle stick characters inspired by Edgar Degas . Both projects had elements of play that students loved – they felt like they were making toys for themselves. We had to remind them that glue takes 24 hours to dry, but that didn’t stop students from play-acting in class. For our first figurative sculptural work, we started with simplified popsicle stick characters. Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer served as an inspiration for our simplified forms. Next, we looked at Nick Cave’s soundsuits, which blend elements of fashion, sculpture, and identity, to create our own masks. Both assignments had strong design elements, which meant that students could do practically whatever they pleased with the materials provided. To our delight, students began mixing various mediums for these projects. It’s especially encouraging to see students’ individual visual styles emerge – it’s now possible to recognize their works simply by their aesthetic! Noormah’s work at Children’s Workshop School is supported by the Emergency Arts Education Fund , which provides free arts education to NYC school communities whose art programs have been decimated by recent budget cuts. Children’s Museum of the Arts’ three Residents Artists are currently implementing ambitious arts curriculum at each of our partner sites throughout New York City: Hudson Guild in Chelsea, Sid Miller Academy in Crown Heights, and Children’s Workshop School in the East Village. Come spring, our residents will showcase their students' work through exhibitions and installations across the city. Learn how you can support the work of our residents here . NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

11/1/23 Kids Art India Through the Eyes of a Child Celebrate Diwali with 24 artworks from CMA's international collection of children's art. Click to expand media gallery. Sheena Singh The Sunset Age 8 The American Embassy School New Delhi, India Pema Zomkey Games: A Participation for All Age 12 Lower T.C.V. School Dharamshala, India Dorjee Phurbu Beauty of Nature Age 12 Tibetan Children's Village Dharamsala, India Sangya Chomphel A Dance Show Lower T.C.V. School Dharamshala, India Ruby Vadakkan Fishermen to Sea Age 10 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Tenzin Norgay My Family Age 8 Tibetan Children's Village Dharamsala, India Justin Vadakkan Children's Village Age 11 St. Mary's School Kolkata, India Mava V. Drought Age 9 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Tenzin Jigme Marriage Age 7 Tibetan Children's Village Dharamsala, India Anoop Kumar Cultural and Traditional Celebration Age 12 Hermann Gmeiner School Faridabad, India Ruby Vadakkan Queen of Flowers Age 10 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Saji Alone in Life Age 10 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Tara Ault-Lowen Happiness Age 8 American Embassy School New Delhi, India Saji Mother's Child Age 11 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Amanda Strang Life Age 10 American Embassy School New Delhi, India Sini Sunset Age 10 St. Clare's Convent Girls Higher Secondary School Thrissur, India Navjot Chadha Myself in My Neighborhood Age 10 SOS Hermann Gmeiner School Faridabad, India Tenzin Myandak A Quest for Peace of Mind Age 11 T.C.V. School Lower Dharamsala, India Dewanshi Bhansali Untitled The American Embassy School New Delhi, India Seema Reza Life Age 9 American Embassy School New Delhi, India Rabia Self Portrait Age 12 Hermann Gmeiner School Faridabad, India Mable K. Pooram Festival Age 11 St. Joseph's School Kerala, India Charulata Sharma Classical Traditional Mohiniattam Dance Age 11 Hermann Gmeiner School Faridabad, India Effie Spanellis India Age 10 American Embassy School New Delhi, India Register – it's free! NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

5/31/24 Arts Education Resources Learning Resource: Cubist Self Portraits by Noormah Jamal, CMA Artist in Residence 2023-24, in collaboration with 5th graders at Children’s Workshop School, NYC Click to expand media gallery. View , Download , & Discover More! While self-portrait exercises are traditionally based on observation and realism, this class is devoted to breaking the traditional portrait into shapes and simpler forms. Students will discover the art movement Cubism and the powerful visual techniques it innovated. Georges Braque, Woman Seated at an Easel, 1936 Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century. It was created by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963) in Paris between 1907 and 1914. When looking at Cubist composition you may notice two things: 1) Simple shapes and forms 2) Multiple perspectives. Seemingly familiar subjects like people or objects found in the home (newspapers, breakfast or a guitar) take on a new life and character. Through Cubist techniques, they emphasized the two-dimensional flatness of the canvas instead of creating an illusional space. Rather than copy nature, it aspired to show more. What kind of visual games can you create? Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar in Armchair, 1939 Learning Objectives: Composition and placement are key to this assignment. Introduction to single and multiple point perspective. Participants should be able to compose basic shapes into a portrait. The size of the portrait should also be well composed on the drawing paper. Confidently use and blend oil pastels Materials: Pencils Oil pastels Mixed media Paper Eraser Ruler Looking at Cubist Art: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, b 1881–d. 1963) Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper . 1913, Tate © Succession Picasso/DACS 2024 (LINK) Juan Gris (Spanish, b. 1887–d. 1927) Juan Legua . 1911, oil on canvas, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC ( LINK ) Sonia Delaunay (French, born Ukraine, b.1885 –d. 1979) Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) 1925 Oil on canvas. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid ( LINK ) David Hockney (British, b. 1937) Nicholas Wilder Studying Picasso .1982, composite polaroid, Private Collection, Courtesy David Hockney Foundation ( LINK ) Step 1: Looking at history Following the principles of Look, Make, Share, begin by introducing the class to the Cubist art movement. Share examples across culture and time. Step 2: Introduction to materials Provide students oil pastels and encourage them to explore how they blend and mix differently than colored pencils. Use fingers, q-tips, cloths and found materials with different weights to show how colors can mix on the paper. Demonstrate how oil pastels can also be used to create high-contrast sharp lines. Step 3: Exploring perspective + shapes A Cubist portrait shows different views of subjects using multiple perspectives rather than the single perspective we’re accustomed to. If you look in the mirror you see your face frontally, imagine looking to the right just slightly - what comes into your vision, and what do you lose? Try again a little further to the right. What now? Try drawing each visual addition you see each time you move a little further to the right. Repeat on the left side. The Elements of Art we explore today include Shape , color , line , space , and form . The Principles of Art are contrast , proportion , and perspective . Step 4: Presentation A critical part of the class is sharing the work we made and sharing feedback. How did other students explore the material? Do we recognize familiar themes or subjects? While looking at examples of Cubist Art and while creating your composition, consider the following questions: Does a portrait need to look like the subject? Have you ever seen artworks like these before? Do they remind you of anything? What types of shapes and lines will you use to create your portrait? Is a Cubist portrait more true to life than a traditional portrait? Instructor Notes: Likeness to oneself is encouraged but not the goal of this assignment. Composing various shapes and geometric forms to make a portrait is the goal. Participants should be able to think outside of the box and think of image-making outside of the standard 'drawing' or 'realism'. Think of the space behind the portrait, think of drawing at its most simplified form. Critical Reflections: This class went well. They were excited to be working with oil pastels. With support, some should start using oil pastels differently than how they would use crayons, including pressure applications including smudging, blending, and sgraffito . Examples of student work: NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now

11/23/21 Interviews Meet Artist in Residence Tati Nguyen “Treasure the relationship with your art, and nurture the creative impulse in yourself.” Click to expand media gallery. CMA’s inaugural cohort of Artists in Residence are turning the museum into their individual art studios as they develop The Look Make Show , the first digital commons of child-centered on-demand arts education. Below, meet Tati Nguyen , whose multicultural experiences have helped her develop a variety of arts curricula that span cultures, ages, and mediums. What attracted you to CMA’s new Artist in Residence program? I was attracted to CMA’s residency program both as an educator and artist. As an educator, the residency’s appeal was the innovative approach and openness of possibilities of art education, providing children with an expansive learning tool to engage in new ways; and to look at the world through the lens of creativity. As an artist, I’m excited by the possibilities of experimentation and the intrepid spirit of CMA’s new vision. Plus, I am always inspired by the energy and fresh eyes that children bring to their art practice and approach to self expression (their immediate embrace of an all-in immersive giving of themselves over to art-making). They often take a simple prompt and run off with the ideas to wild places; the rules of engagement in art has no limitations for a child. It was an opportunity too wonderful to pass up. Can you tell us about your art practice and how working with children inspires you? I have always tried to pull inspiration from my own childhood and the power of observations, undiluted by the dictates of external logic — the world where children’s sense of play and experimentation without rules and dictums are freeing. There are no external art metrics to compare against personal vision — for a viewer, perhaps, some messages are more immediate, and others more elusive, but to the child, their art is a world complete in itself: a stand-alone holistic visual universe, which is perfect. I am inspired to draw upon this, and can endlessly revisit again and again in artmaking. Do you have a favorite memory of making art as a child? As a young Vietnamese girl arriving in America, I remember the first time I was able to communicate, not through language but visually with my schoolmates through my drawings. We were copying pictures of penguins (which was fascinating to me as we don’t have penguins in South East Asia). I drew the same animal over and over again to understand this animal, and to communicate and connect with the children that I didn’t share a common language with. What advice would you give to young artists who wish to pursue an art practice? All children are artists — all have a need to express, to share, to communicate; it’s a natural inclination as the children begin their academic careers. Perhaps, some focus may change into learning systems: reading, math, etc., but it’s essential to always nurture curiosity and never stop art practices for themselves. Creativity may be applied in all aspects of our lives, whether it is problem-solving, drawing, writing, dancing, or making music — creativity is magic. Just doing something for yourself, and the world may come to appreciate it or not, but art will enrich life no matter how you engage with it; making it a part of who you are. Treasure the relationship with your art, and nurture the creative impulse in yourself. Why is it important to make art accessible to all children and families? Art is a participatory activity that has the power to engage the entire family; a bonding experience in artmaking can facilitate communication. Art as a topic can beautify and facilitate conversations to share ideas with one another; to trigger a deep dive into life’s journey. Introducing art as a branch of creative child development is to not just let brain activity thrive, but to cultivate balanced creativity in children. Art is what gives children the power to express themselves! If you could choose any artist to create a portrait of yourself, who would it be and why? What an interesting question — for myself, this question gets into a whole new conversation about what a portrayal of an artist would be. Essentially, our artworks are fragments and glimpses of the self; as artists share various forms of their work through their art and narratives … add upon this layer an external gaze to define a portrayal …it is an interesting concept. There are so many answers because it’s difficult to choose just one — a portrait can be expressed in any form — it can be a piece of music, photo, poem, book, painting, or sculpture … in painting form, I would pick Jean Dubuffet . Dubuffet in his approach to portraiture and art practice was to preserve the inner child and innocence of visual expression. It’s the essence of a childlike outlook not weighing down a portrait in formal constructs. NEXT Emergency Exhibition: New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers Take a Virtual Tour on Bloomberg Connects Donate Now